Under its earlier name, Col de l'Argentière it has historically linked Lyon with Italy; the Col de l'Argentière was in the possession of the house of Savoy from 1388 to 1713, offering an easy route between Piedmont and its outlying valley of Barcelonnette, which came into Savoyard possession in 1388, when Amadeus VI of Savoy purchased it for the sum of 60,000 ecus,[1] it was of such strategic and commercial importance.